ISTANBUL — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Turkey’s foreign minister said Saturday that their countries are creating a formal structure to plan for worst-case scenarios in Syria, including a possible chemical weapons attack on regime opponents.
Clinton and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said their nations would set up a working group to respond to the crisis in Syria as conditions there deteriorate. They said the group will coordinate military, intelligence and political responses to the potential fallout in the case of a chemical attack, which would result in medical emergencies and a likely increase in refugees fleeing Syria.
“We have been closely coordinating over the course of this conflict, but now we need to get into the real details of such operational planning. It needs to be across both of our governments,” Clinton said.
She said the U.S. State Department and Turkey’s Foreign Ministry already had been working together on the issue but that the new working group would increase the involvement of the intelligence services and militaries of both countries.
Among the contingencies that the U.S. and Turkey agree on is the need to plan for “the horrible event” that chemical weapons are used, Clinton said.
“What would that mean in terms of response, humanitarian and medical emergency assistance and, of course, what needs to be done to secure those stocks from ever being used or falling into the wrong hands?” Clinton said.
In July, Syria’s foreign ministry spokesman threatened the use of chemical and biological weapons in case of a foreign attack, assuring that government would never use them against its own citizens. It was the first acknowledgment that Syria possesses weapons of mass destruction, something that has long been suspected.
Later, the Syrian government attempted to back away from the announcement and revert to its previous position of neither confirming nor denying the existence of unconventional weapons.
Syria is thought to have nerve agents as well as mustard gas, Scud missiles capable of delivering lethal chemicals and a variety of advanced conventional arms, including portable anti-aircraft missiles.
Clinton said it was important not to take actions that could “catalyze even greater and more horrible kinds of assaults,” and that she and Davutoglu discussed a “very long list” of issues on Syria.
“We have to be very careful, and we have to do it in a way that always keeps in mind our goal — number one is to hasten the end of the bloodshed and the Assad regime,” she said.
Davutoglu hinted at the possibility of setting up a so-called “safe zone” inside Syria if the humanitarian crisis triggers a massive flow of refugees who are vulnerable to attack by regime forces. He said 55,000 Syrians have sought refuge in neighboring Turkey, and that 2,000 to 3,000 were arriving daily.
Related news
Rebels detonate bombs in capital • DAMASCUS, syria —Gunmen detonated back-to-back roadside bombs and clashed with police in central Damascus on Saturday in attacks that caused no damage but highlighted the ability of rebels to breach the intense security near President Bashar Assad’s power bases.
The blasts point to the increasing use of guerrilla-style operations in the capital to undermine the government’s claims of having full control over Damascus. It also suggests that rebel cells have established a Damascus network capable of evading Assad’s intelligence agents.
In Aleppo, activists said Syrian forces pressed an offensive to break rebel footholds in the city. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a helicopter gunship fired missiles on apartment buildings a day after protesters begged for international shipments of anti-aircraft weapons. The Associated Press
